This invention relates to an article of manufacture. More specifically, this invention relates to an article of clothing in the form of hand-wear (i.e., a mitten or glove) having both enhanced insulation (e.g., fleece fiberfill or comparable insulating materials) for protection from the cold, and yet permits improved tactile sensation without exposure of the hand or fingers to the ambient environment.
Cold weather greatly increases the rate at which our bodies lose heat to their surroundings. It is a well-known fact that when you get cold your body""s extremities lose heat and circulation first. Our bodies conserve the temperature at the center by reducing the blood flow to the arms and legs. In effect, the critical central temperature of our torsos, which contain all of our vital organs, is maintained at the expense of the extremities.
Therefore, it is vital to keep the extremities of a wearer warm in order to avoid a drop in body temperature in cold weather (for our purposes, only hand-wear covering the fingers will be discussed). Hand-wear, in the form of gloves and mittens, have long been the choice of wear in cold weather, but it is an on-going struggle to balance the hand-wear""s warmth-retaining qualities with the loss of dexterity because of increased insulation. Notwithstanding the advances in the fabrics and insulating liners used in their manufacture, the increase in the cold insulation properties for have generally come at the expense of loss of tactile sensation through the garment and/or increased overall bulkiness and loss of comfort for the wearer.
Numerous attempts to strike a balance between warmth and dexterity for the wearer have been made in the past. These include: U.S. Pat. No. 5,172,427 (to Van Bergen, et al., issued Dec. 22, 1992) relates to a fingerless mitten which allows all the fingers of a hand to reside within a single closeable cavity to capitalize on the benefits of body heat while allowing the fingers to be easily freed from the cavity when the mitten is rolled up onto the sleeve. However, with this design the wearer is either warm, or dexterous, but not both at the same time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,515,547 (to Middleton, issued May 14, 1996) relates to an integral mitten/glove combination wherein the palm portion thereof is a fully functioning glove, while the back portion thereof is a fully functioning mitten. According to Middleton, when the ambient environment becomes increasingly cold, the hand is simply withdrawn from the finger webbing that defines the glove, and inserted into the integrated mitten portion thereof, without the hand leaving the warmth of the combined (multi-purpose) glove. In the preferred embodiments of the Middleton, a Velcro-like fastener is provided on the back-hand section of the glove to retain the mitten portion thereof when not in use. While the wearer retains higher dexterity while wearing only the glove, he loses that when the fingers are covered with the mitten covering. Moreover, the mitten covering does not create an airtight space which retains warmth, and the outer layer of the full-featured glove is not a good insulator, resulting in a highly inefficient design for warmth retainment which is also cumbersome to the wearer.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,542,125 (to Zuckerwar, issued Aug. 6, 1996) relates to a sports glove designed to accept interchangeable finger and mitten caps. This hand-wear comprises an ensemble of two distinct components, a glove body (which fits over the palm and the thumb) and interchangeable finger caps, which conform in design to either a mitten or to a glove. Each of the mitten or glove finger caps can be readily interchanged with one another in the ensemble by simple engagement/disengagement with a releasable fastener on the body of the glove. While this design offers flexibility to the user in choosing between greater warmth (the mitten) or greater dexterity (the glove), the mitten and glove modes remain mutually exclusive.
As is evident from the above discussion of the representative prior art, there is generally a compromise between the desire to maintain warmth in cold weather conditions, and the desire to provide as much tactile sensation as possible through the hand-wear. In each of the examples of the prior art, the expedient selected was to provide for alternative mitten and glove designs within an integrated hand-wear, or, alternatively, for interchangeable finger/mitten caps within a glove or mitten ensemble. Notwithstanding such advancements in hand-wear designs, each of the alternatives suggested above are deficient (and implicitly acknowledge such fact) because the basic design and/or fabrication of such hand-wear perpetuates the striking of a compromise between the dual objectives of warmth and digital dexterity.
Accordingly, there continues to exist a need to provide for both superior cold weather comfort (warmth), while at the same time both preserving the integrity of the cold weather hand-wear and maximizing tactile sensitivity through such hand-wear.
It is the object of this invention to remedy the above as well as related deficiencies in the prior art.
More specifically, it is the principle object of this invention to provide improved hand-wear having enhanced cold weather protection, comfort, and enhanced tactile sensitivity.
It is another object of this invention to provide improved hand-wear having both cold weather comfort and enhanced tactile sensitivity, wherein the hand is maintained in isolation from the ambient environment.
It is still yet another object of this invention to provide improved hand-wear having cold weather comfort, enhanced dexterity and increased comfort, wherein each of the finger portions of a glove or mitten includes multiple or composite insulating layers, which affords both enhanced cold weather comfort, improved tactile sensitivity, and reduced bulkiness of the hand-wear.
The above and related objects are achieved by providing an article of hand-wear comprising a mitten or a glove wherein each of said article comprises: (a) an inner lining that is preferably moisture absorbent, into which the hand is inserted; (b) an insulating lining preferably made of fleece, fiberfill or comparable insulating material; (c) a second insulating micro-fiber xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9cpouchxe2x80x9dxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9ccapxe2x80x9dxe2x80x9d (hereinafter also xe2x80x9cxe2x80x9cmacrocapxe2x80x9dxe2x80x9d) over the integral fingers or digital section into which the first micro-fiber lining and inner lining is inserted; (d) an insulating layer of trapped air formed between the insulating layer and the macrocap; and (e) an outer cover covering all of the above.
Unlike ordinary gloves and mittens of conventional construction and in the prior art discussed above, the hand-wear of this invention is provided with extra insulation only in the areas corresponding to the digital portion thereof, specifically, by fabricating a macrocap from multiple lamina of insulating micro-fibers or comparable materials so as to form air pockets within the resulting macrocap laminate. The insulation is concentrated where it is needed most, at the surface of fingers and thumb, specifically, from the crotch of each digit over the tip of each digit. Thus, optimum protection of the digital portion of the hand from the cold is accomplished without over-insulation of the rest of the hand-wear. This avoids giving the glove un-needed bulk which would result in reduced dexterity, while also preventing sweating of the palms due to over-insulation.
It is noted and emphasized that the hand-wear of this invention does not include any flaps, or permit separation of any of the basic integral components of the hand-wear from one another that would permit exposure/access of the hand from within the hand-wear to the ambient environment. Accordingly, such hand-wear is regarded as an integral and unitary structure which is enclosed within an outer layer.
The advantages of such hand-wear design include the maintenance of the warm air chamber within the hand-wear at all times, while maximizing warmth, comfort and dexterity.